


doormat

by civillove



Series: brio prompts from tumblr [7]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 19:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20783663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/civillove/pseuds/civillove
Summary: bugheadschild asked: 2. “How dare you”





	doormat

They’re supposed to be on the same team.

Every time it feels like she knows him, every moment she feels like she might be able to trust him…he goes and does something _stupid _like this. Really this is her fault for not seeing it, for believing him when he says they’re partners, when he seemingly goes out of his way to prove it to her.

He always undoes his actions like a knot unraveling.

The deal is dangerous, she knows this because he tells her—and part of her? has definitely built up a complex where she kind of shrugs her shoulder and says _so what? _Because she’s been part of dangerous deals before and they’ve come out alright, together. The other part of her knows she shouldn’t be so naïve, that bad shit can happen and it can happen _fast _and all it takes is one mistake for everything to come crashing down around her.

For her to lose the life she’s tried so hard to build for herself and her family.

Okay, so maybe she should slow down. But this? This last minute shit? She’s tired of it.

She’s tired of doing all the research, the legwork, the numbers—only for him to take deals without her.

That’s not what a partnership looks like.

She waits for him to show up at her home or the bar they frequent, but he finally wanders into the dealership one night in a maroon Henley that fits him far too well and a stupid beanie. She squares her shoulders and stares at him, wandering into her office, sitting down in the chairs across from her desk.

“You and I must be looking at different definitions of partnership.”

Rio sighs and tips his head back slightly to look at the ceiling as if he knows he’s about to get a lecture. “How many times are we gonna talk about this?”

“At least one more,” Beth’s trying her hardest not to reach her boiling point, she knows that part of him enjoys that, riling her up but she still wants to get her opinion across. “How dare you just…take all the work that I put together and use it in meetings _without _me.”

He holds her gaze for a long moment and stands from the chairs, rounding her desk to sit on the edge of it in front of her. Her feet instantly push her own chair back a little to create space between them, which amuses him, tugs at the corner of his mouth. He folds his hands in front of her, gold pinky ring catching the light.

“Honest?” He asks, pausing for a moment. “I was going to do it as long as you let me. Maybe this was a lesson in not lettin’ people wall all over you.” The deliverance is nasty and yet…and yet in that quickest of moments she knows he’s right. “Don’t be a doormat, I’m not your husband.”

He must sense she’s going to hit him the moment before it happens because he grabs her wrist, palm about the connect with his cheek. She’s breathing a little haphazardly, emotion clouding her judgement, building like fog in her chest. He squeezes but not hard enough to bruise and he does something that surprises her, that takes the breath right out of her lungs.

He presses a kiss to her knuckles and her hand goes limp.

“60 / 40.”

Beth opens and closes her mouth a moment, clearing her throat. “50 / 50.”

Rio smiles, thumb brushing along the outside of her hand. “Next meeting is in three days, same warehouse, same client. Don’t be late.” He stands quickly and moves towards the doorway, her voice stopping him a few moments later.

“Actually,” Beth smooths her hands down her skirt, trying to mentally remove the heat of his skin from her own. “I spoke to our client before you came. That meeting was changed per my request, one-week, same warehouse.” She holds his gaze, something more than amusement staring back at her.

Admiration, maybe, impressed.

“_You _don’t be late.” She fires back to which Rio smiles and nods before leaving her office.


End file.
